David Alethea, a professor of philosophy and chairman of the Humanities Division at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, died Sunday of cancer. He was 67.

Alethea, who earned the 2003 UH Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching, had been at West O'ahu since 1979.

"Alethea's students call him challenging, brilliant and passionate," said the official notification of the award. "He is a true philosopher who exemplifies the subject in which he teaches."

In 1997 Alethea was named one of the national course winners by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to research, teaching and public service. In 1986 and 1987 he was awarded the President's Educational Improvement Fund Grant.

Professors at the closely knit West O'ahu school called him a caring and gentle professor, popular with students and colleagues.

"We had the Humanities Bash every year and we'd always put on a play and the idea was that professors would make fun of themselves, which students always loved," said Hank Chapin, a retired professor of English literature from West O'ahu. "David's greatest role was when he played Socrates. We stood him up on a table and his head was in this kind of skylight. It was like the philosopher up there in the heavens. He was just a great guy."

Chapin said Alethea "lived the life of a philosopher. ... He even had a motto: 'Question your own beliefs.' "

Alethea was born March 18, 1938, in Chicago. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin and his master's and doctorate of philosophy at Columbia University in New York. He studied in Paris under a Fulbright grant from 1964-66, and continued those studies through 1968.

When their first child was born in 1982, he and his wife, Barbara, tried to combine their former names to create a hyphenated name for themselves and their child, but they decided their two names — Funt and Aymond — had no pleasing combinations. So they chose a completely new name for the whole family — Alethea — from the Greek word for truth.

Their eldest child, Sarah Wayan, was named for the first-born child in Balinese tradition — Wayan — as the couple had spent time on the Indonesian island and been impressed by its culture.

"He had a cosmopolitanism that was really extraordinary," said another colleague, history professor Daniel Boylan, who called Alethea a man who was learned, gentle, intellectual and "out of the box" in many ways.

"My jaw always dropped," Boylan said. "He knew art. He knew Eastern and Western philosophy. He was the kind of guy who you always knew was going to be reasonable.

"I remember once a student coming into my office, a pretty well-educated young man, saying, 'That guy's brilliant, that guy's brilliant.' "

Alethea is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter, Sarah; son, Zachary; sister, Geraldine Malter of New York City; and nieces and nephews.

Services and a celebration of his life are from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at 41-976 Laumilo St. in Waimanalo. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to "Friends of David Alethea Fund" in care of the same address.